Leading countries in mental health research in Latin America and the Caribbean

Revista Brasileira de Psiquiatria

Denise Razzouk²  Ricardo Zorzetto²  Maria Thereza Dubugras²  Jerônimo Gerolin¹  Jair De Jesus Mari² 

[1] ,Universidade Federal de São Paulo Department of Psychiatry São Paulo SP ,Brazil

关键词: Latin America;    Mental health;    Research;    Science;    technology and society;    Psychiatry;    América Latina;    Saúde mental;    Pesquisa;    Ciência;    tecnologia e sociedade;    Psiquiatria;   

DOI  :  10.1590/S1516-44462006005000042

来源: SciELO

【 摘 要 】

OBJECTIVE: The prevalence and burden of mental disorders have been growing in Latin-American and the Caribbean countries and research is an important tool for changing this scenario. The objective of this paper is to describe the development of mental health research in Latin American and the Caribbean countries from 1995 to 2005. METHOD: The indicators of productivity were based on the ISI Essential Science Indicators database. We compared the number of papers and citations, as well as the number of citations per paper between 1995 and 2005 for each country ranked in the Essential Science Indicators. RESULT: Eleven Latin-American countries were ranked in the ISI database and six of them demonstrated a higher level of development in mental health research: Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, and Venezuela. Mexico produced the largest number of papers, while Brazil showed a larger number of citations per paper. CONCLUSION: Mental health research is still incipient in Latin American and the Caribbean countries, and many challenges remain to be overcome. Also, it is necessary to establish the research priorities, to allocate more funding, and to improve researchers training in research method and design.

【 授权许可】

CC BY-NC   
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